Some Things Can't Change
by ChocolateSyrup
Summary: Having a strained relationship with his father as a human wasn't always easy, and now that he's stuck as a Pikachu, it's going to be even harder. Alternate ending to the movie. What if Harry didn't change back?


_Was it just me, or did anyone else feel...meh about the ending? __I loved the rest of the movie, but the ending just felt out of place, especially since the game had a much more different one. I'm actually surprised that I like the game's ending better now, considering that the Harry plot was left unsolved._

_First of all, I know it's already been confirmed, but how are they going to do a sequel since Harry is back to normal?_

_I think they just had Mewtwo change Harry back to avoid any awkwardness between the characters (how weird would it be for your dad to be stuck as a Pikachu the rest of his life?)_

_BUT, they could have revealed that Harry was merged with Pikachu without having him change back. I mean, he was in a completely different situation than the others who were merged with their Pokémon because he had been in a car crash, and his Pikachu saved him by asking Mewtwo to save his life. I just thought it kind of took away from that scene a bit, and would have had more of an effect finding out he was Tim's dad if he wasn't able to change back like the others. They should have at least picked a different actor so not as many questions would come up, like how Tim didn't recognize his father's voice (but that could probably be explained by them not seeing each other in years.)_

_I also don't really like how Harry seemed to have forgotten everything about being Detective Pikachu._

_So, anyway... I felt the need to write this! It's also on AO3 under the same name._

xxxx

_The father you have been looking for has been with you all along._

Tim's blood runs cold at Mewtwo's words. Had he heard right? Mewtwo makes no indication that he'd heard wrong, allowing him to process the startling revelation.

"What's he talking about?" Pikachu asks.

Tim is just as confused as he is.

"I don't..."

_Understand._

He kneels down slowly to his partner's level—to Pikachu's level. His _father?_

"Dad...?" he whispers uncertainly, and Pikachu seems just as confused and surprised as he is.

"I'm...I'm a dad?" Pikachu murmurs. Tim is...his _son?_ He has a son? How does that even work? Was this how human parents felt when they found out they were expecting?

Pikachu's breathing quickens. None of it makes any sense...

"You're Harry," Tim says, a little more firmly. Yet no matter how impossible it seems, he can't help but smile down at his partner. "You're my dad. You were with me this whole time..." he says aloud, repeating Mewtwo's words. Images of their journey together from the coffee shop to the Torterra garden flash through his mind, shock and awe nearly overcoming him.

Why hadn't he seen any of the signs? Pikachu liking coffee, the fact that they could understand each other...but the most important one being that he hadn't even recognized his own father's _voice._ Maybe it was because they hadn't seen or talked to each other in years. Maybe it was because he'd never expected his father to be merged with his Pokémon partner upon entering his apartment. Whatever the case, he feels entirely stupid now for not picking it up earlier.

Pikachu stares down at his paws, his fur giving away the fact that he's not exactly human...so how could he be Tim's father?

"I'm not. I can't be. It's not true!" It _can't_ be true. But what Mewtwo had just shown them proved otherwise...

What was the saying? Don't just believe everything someone tells you? Especially what you read online? It had to be some kind of trick, and he certainly doesn't appreciate it.

"But Mewtwo just..." Tim glances back up to Mewtwo, but the powerful Pokémon simply stares back.

"He showed us what happened," Pikachu says, trying his best to remain calm yet failing miserably. "I still can't _remember._ If it's really true, why haven't I changed back yet like everyone else?"

Everyone that Howard merged with their Pokémon.

"That's..." Tim falters, unable to come up with an explanation. Mewtwo had helped everyone else who had been merged with their Pokémon return to normal, but his 'father' is still a Pikachu.

_That's actually a good question,_ he finishes the thought uncertainly.

Mewtwo seemed to have heard.

_Harry's situation was different. I am sorry, but I could not truly save him._

"But...but why?" Tim asks weakly, though he has a good feeling. Howard and Mewtwo had shown him different sides of the crash after all, and both viewpoints hadn't looked so good.

_Your father was dying in the crash, but his Pikachu sacrificed his life so I could save him in a different way. They are permanently merged into one being._

Permanent. Dying...he'd put Harry's consciousness into Pikachu because otherwise, he would have passed on.

No...so that's why Mewtwo had managed to change everyone else back. They hadn't died in a fiery crash.

Pikachu can already see it in Tim's face—the kind of disappointment and heartbreak that can crush even something so strong as his jellies.

Well, he finally knows that the 'jellies' he always talked about are _definitely_ wrong.

Harry is really and truly dead, and there isn't anything they can do about it. The hope that he was still alive had just been shattered into a million pieces. Whatever Mewtwo just showed them, it hadn't been real. It _couldn't_ be!

He can't even look Tim in the eye, choosing to stare at the ground instead. He would never be able to see him the same way again. Not as partners, or even as his son...but what? He has no idea.

"I'm sorry. I can't do this...I have to go again."

It's like Pikachu just used his electricity to shock him once more. Tears begin to fight their way forward, but he fights back. He's not about to give up yet. This is his _father,_ and it made sense now. When things got tough, Harry's reaction was to always push his son and family away. He'd drowned himself in his work to distract him from situations he probably thought happened because of him, when really...they _both_ needed to work on things together.

_My problem is that I push people away and then hate them for leaving._

It clicks that the entire time, it had been a part of his _father_ who was talking through Pikachu. Tim realizes that he has to help convince him that staying is the right thing to do.

"You just came back! Where will you go?"

_Not our...the apartment,_ Pikachu thinks frantically. _I can't go back there. Not now that we know the truth._

All he knows is that he has to get away from the one who he formerly thought was his partner...but who is actually his _son? _Tim would never look at _him_ the same way again, either. He would always hope that somehow, Harry was still alive and would come back.

But he's a Pokémon. A Pikachu. If he hadn't been that good of a father for Tim when he was still human, how would it make any difference that he would be a better one as an electric _rat,_ especially one that can't even truly recall Harry's memories?

Tim would only look at him and see someone else who was never coming back.

"Just stay away from me for good this time," he says sternly as he can, still avoiding eye contact. "I'm not who you think I am. Who Mewtwo _says_ I am. It's for the best."

It's all too much to handle and before Tim can even react, he shoots off in the other direction down the street.

"Da-Pikachu, wait!" What should he call the detective now? Pika-dad?

He doesn't really have any other options, desperately turning to Mewtwo.

"What do we do now?"

He hopes for a simple, straight answer. Find his father...no—_Pikachu_—and simply go on with their lives no matter how crazy and awkward it is now that they know the truth.

_It's up to the both of you to decide what path you take._

"I figured you would say that," Tim says, unable to stop himself from sniffling.

He nods anyway, though he's still uncertain what that path was exactly. His father is...gone. No longer coming back.

But _Pikachu_ was still here, and so...

He manages a small smile through oncoming tears that he'd tried so hard to hold back.

"Can you tell me where he's going?" Tim asks, though hesitant and unsure if Mewtwo would actually answer.

_The place where it all began for you two._

Mewtwo gives him a gentle smile in return before flying off, and it's hard for Tim to feel any kind of resentment towards the psychic after all the help it had given them.

_The place where it all began for us?_ Tim thinks, a bit confused. If he put himself in Pikachu's shoes, the last place he would want to go would be where they first met in Harry's apartment. It would be easy to be found, and he probably wants to be alone. Then again, maybe that's where he would go if he didn't believe Mewtwo and wanted to find answers.

xxxx

"Pikachu?" Tim asks as he enters the quiet building for the second time.

_Not Dad,_ he has to remind himself to avoid asking the question out loud; Pikachu wouldn't like it. Walking up the stairs, he thinks he can hear rummaging coming from his father's room.

What he doesn't expect to find is Pikachu sitting in his father's chair just as he walks in, paws on the desk. The question of _how_ he'd gotten in the apartment again doesn't seem as important compared to the situation at hand. The mess of papers and photos from around the apartment before him is proof that he'd been desperate enough to find a way back in.

"Hey, bud," he says cautiously, stepping slowly towards the desk. He knows he shouldn't be afraid, but he can't help recalling when he had last been shocked. "What are you doing?"

_I'm not staying long, and I'm not your bud. I'm just looking for answers,_ Pikachu responds in his head. _Some have already been answered, like why I forgot how to use my powers. How we can understand each other. It's because I'm not really a Pokémon. I'm not really a Pikachu. You're my..._

He still refuses to look up at Tim, keeping his gaze focused on the newspaper in front of him. Absentmindedly, he picks up the photo of Tim's mother he'd brought out. His..._Harry's_ wife. He wants to remember, but just _can't. _Maybe it was better that she wasn't here to see him stuck in a Pikachu body.

He's glad he doesn't have telepathic ability like Mewtwo, or else Tim would be able to hear him.

_Maybe if I regain all of Harry's memories, I'll actually become Harry._

But he knows he'd still be stuck as a Pikachu. It wouldn't bring Harry back. He'd failed as a partner to help Tim find the one person he misses most.

It was all the 'other' Pikachu's fault. If he hadn't begged Mewtwo to save Harry's life, maybe none of this would have happened. He wouldn't have gone on an amazing journey with Tim to try and solve the biggest mystery of his life—why he couldn't remember anything. They wouldn't have become partners only for him to hurt Tim by leaving the first time and giving him a painful shock.

He wouldn't feel the way he does now. Pikachu had no right to save them in the way that he did. Harry never even got to have a say...

Footsteps approaching snap him out of it long enough to realize that Tim is inching closer to the desk.

"Go away."

Much to his frustration, Tim takes another step forward.

"Leave me alone."

Another step forward, but this time slower. The message must finally be getting through.

"I'm apparently your father, so you have to do what I say."

The statement only causes a small smile to cross Tim's face, and anger flares through him. It wasn't supposed to be funny!

Red cheeks flash as a warning. If Tim came any closer, he wouldn't hesitate to do what he had already done before, no matter how much it broke his heart.

"Harry is still here. He's alive," Tim says softly, respecting his wishes to stay back.

Why was he trying to give him false hope? It was useless. If what Mewtwo showed them was actually true, then Harry was dead.

Gone. Never coming back. Why can't Tim see that?

"What do you mean...?" he decides to ask anyway, despite his heart telling him otherwise.

"You are Harry, but..._not_ at the same time. Don't you get it?"

"Not sure I'm following, kid." Should he even continue calling Tim by that nickname? Was it even himself saying the word or someone else? He's never been so confused in the entire time since he first found his way to his—no—_Harry's_ apartment when he'd first woken with amnesia and the address inside the hat had led him here.

"Harry...my father. He's inside you."

Pikachu blinks uncertainly. "Okay...still not getting it, but keep going."

Tim lets out a soft chuckle, happy to oblige. "You might not actually be my father, but he's still here with us. In your heart, like Mewtwo said in the flashback."

Mustering all the courage he has, Pikachu slowly lifts his gaze towards Tim, afraid that all he'll see is a son that sees him as someone he's not. He can never be the father that Tim so desperately wants to be reunited with. He's just a Pokémon with no memory, for crying out loud!

But no matter how much he tries to fight them from entering into his mind again, Mewtwo's words from the flashback repeat again in his aching head.

_You memory will be gone, but your heart will know who you are._

Pikachu shakes his head. "But I'm not...wait. My heart..."

He lifts a paw to his chest, resisting the urge to look away from Tim as he inches closer to the desk. He fights every fiber in his being that tells him to run away again. Tilting his head to the side curiously, he allows the kid to take his paw into his own hand so he can feel the steady rhythm of his heartbeat.

"We figured it out. We solved the mystery. I still can't fully remember my past life, but Harry is inside my heart. He's still here," Pikachu assures Tim, though he's not sure if he's only comforting himself.

Tim nods. He pulls his hand away from Pikachu's chest, trusting that he won't run away again.

He has to hold back a sob. His father is really gone, but Pikachu is still here; the one thing he has left of Harry who actually has a piece of him inside his soul.

"You might not truly be my father. I know you're not; you are your own person now...but you're still my partner. My best friend."

Pikachu can't stop the smile from spreading slowly across his face.

"I meant what I said before. I need you. Please don't go again," Tim whispers almost brokenly, like he's afraid he'll run off again, and Pikachu doesn't blame him. He'd done that twice now, and he needs to put a stop to it. If he couldn't try and be a better father, then he could certainly try to be a better friend.

"I need you too, partner," he agrees softly.

Gazing out the window at the darkening sky, the feeling of uncertainty returns, but it isn't as overwhelming.

"What are we going to do now?"

"I just asked Mewtwo the same question," Tim admits after a moment of silence. He understands the feeling of uncertainty, but they would get through it.

They would get through it _together._

"Let me guess. He said he we have to figure it out on our own?" Pikachu asks.

"Pretty much," Tim answers plainly, trying to hide a stray tear or two away by wiping them with his arm, though a knowing smile is plastered across his face.

The smile is enough to convince Pikachu he's making the right decision by staying. He gazes down at the mess of papers on Harry's desk, a smile of his own beginning to form. Glancing back up at Tim, he can tell that his best friend is thinking the same thing.

"Well...what do you say, partner? Should we continue following in Harry's footsteps and do some more detective work? I bet there's a lot of Pokémon and humans who still need our help."

They can still understand each other. Whether it was jellies, magic, or hope, they had been brought together for a reason.

Tim's heart swells, warmth seeping into his being.

"You tell me," he responds gently.

Pikachu can still feel the steady rhythm of his heartbeat through his paw that seems to speed up with joy in response to the idea.

The Pokémon smiles again.

"He'd like that. He'd like that very much."


End file.
